I am a citizen of this planet, who believes there is a purpose and mission to our existence. I pursue that mission and try to enjoy every lesson, every day, and every last drop of the pain and joy we drink when we live. I live a mostly regret-free life, with each failure quickly becoming a valuable experience and something to laugh about, and every success something about which to be thankful and celebrative. I do all of this in and around my beloved Berkeley, California.

8/02/2007

John Says His Piece

As I keep telling you, it is never a dull moment in Berkeley. As I was leaving work this afternoon, I ran into this man, John, who is a nurse at a hospital. On his day off, he is an activist for the rights of workers, he said. In the few brief moments that I stopped by to see what he was up to, he said he believes that true "freedom," "rights," and "liberation" should come from within groups and nations, not handed out to them by others, especially governments. He was walking around good-naturedly, advocating his cause in what was a beautiful sunny afternoon after the fog burnt off. Though there wasn't enough time to really find out more about his message, I thought the picture might convey something about the kind of place Berkeley is. I was grateful he agreed to be photographed, and with a smile at that!

Bringing democracy was never really among initial justification of going to Iraq. The chief justifcation were only at the outset were 1)to protect American people from imminent threat of WMD. 2. To enforce UN Resolution.The "democracy crusade" mission emerged as the casus belli only after it was clear that the Iraq war had become a 'catastrophic success'. That is how President Bush described it in 2004.

In the United States, almost all of our civil liberaties were hard fought battles. Abolitionist movement, child labor, labor, womens suffrage/rights, civil rights, etc were not benevolently granted by the government or sponsored by big business; rather the opposite: the fundamental rights that we enjoy were struggled for - sometimes militantly - by peoples movements (that alot of times consisted of socialists, radicals, anarchists and communists) who constantly met resistance by the government and business sector. It took decades of organizing and struggling to force what is now basic rights to be achieved. The constitution didn't protect the rights of workers, poor people, Native Americans, people of color or women, it was movements built and led by communist or socialist who helped get equal rights, who fought for the rights of collective bargaining so workers can have a say and not be constantly jerked by greedy companies and bosses.

All of these rights were won in the context of a democratic system of governance and the American constitution provided the basic foundation for this maneuverability within the system.

Sadly, in a religious theocracy wherein the legislator is God through his prophet, any other rights but religious rights are automatically void and null.

Before democracy could be introduced anywhere a country's literacy rates and social and political maturity should be at an optimum level. If that readiness level is not there, then people can be used as tools by foreign powers or enemies within albeit religious colonialism, Imperialist colonialism or Communist colonialism.

Winston Churchill was profoundly accurate in his commensensical simplicity when he said his famous quote: "the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - note that this quote refers to the average voter who presumably has achieved some form of political and democratic readiness and sophistication.

Here are some of my favorite quotes by Thomas Jefferson:

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

"Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day."

"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.

More brainy quotes from Thomas Jefferson:http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html

Tradition of Democracy in Iran. Abbas Milani's "Lost Wisdom" dispels the myth that democracy is a construct of 'western thought'. What is Western or Eastern anyway? Who makes up such arbitary and artificial division and who benefits from this divisions?

AT any rate, here is a review of Abbas Milani scholarly work investigating the tradition of Democracy in the "East":

Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran challenges the hitherto accepted theory that modernity and its related concepts of democracy and freedom are Western in essence. It also demonstrates that Iran and the West have more that brings them together than separates them in their search for such modern ideals as rationalism, the rule of law, and democracy.

These essays will reward the scholar and the general reader alike, and will go far toward explaining the enigma that is Iran today.

From the Publisher"Milani shows that long before the European Renaissance generated the radical ideas that eventually reshaped Europe and the United States, Persian statesmen, artists, and intellectuals had formulated ideas that strikingly anticipate those of modernity.… Lost Wisdom is not only a powerful work of historical analysis; it is also a moving and eloquent account of a series of remarkable individuals, depicted with rare sensitivity and precision."—Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University

What a marvelous discussion took place in my absence! I'm afraid I can't add much to the interesting points you all raised. I know one thing--that the man who was on Berkeley's Shattuck Square yesterday, and the group who was there today, making fun of George Bush, and the ones who will probably go there tomorrow promoting another idea and ideal, all were allowed to say their piece. I doubt you can count on the fingers of two hands all the other places in the world where people can show up and talk about their thoughts, especially as it pertains disagreeing with what the government does, without legal consequences. Understanding what Serendip and Alef Shin are saying as best as I can, there is no disagreement between the two. As the lowest common denominator for all that people of the world want, the most basic human right, freedom is a cherished and unfortunately scarce commodity. Once freedom is attained, a democracy can be an ideal political system for those who choose it, and if there are other alternatives, those too can be put up to vote and chosen. For freedom to be achieved, nations have to first become empowered by literacy and knowledge. Where there is freedom, governments will be truly chosen by those nations, working to make lives better for the people whom they govern.

Thank you all for your lively conversation and for your thoughtful (and soulful) contributions. Be good y'all.

Mr. alef, shin: I have to apoloigze in advance for not being able to write in Persian.

In an ideal world of angels, what you're suggesting would be most reasonable. However, from an evolutionary biology stand point, the problem is that our technolgoy and our culture in general evolves at a faster rate than our own species evolution. Sadly, our species lags behind in matching social/spiritual dynamics to pull off what you're proposing. If you like to discuss this issue further you can email me at deletion10p13@inbox.com

Sorry, Nazy jan. You already know my stance and I don't want to bore you with it again.